Woo, forest time! (private)

Angelica rushed into the forest out of breath. Taking a moment to collect herself. "Should have shifted." She muttered before straightening up and gave a smile. "Sorry I'm late."

(I thought eli and ashley could be friends! and I thought eli could be ash's crush...)

"No, it's ok if you stay." I said to the new coming boy. He was kinda cute to be honest.

(Sure, we can see how it works out.)

Eli perked up a bit when they all said he could stay. Meeting new people was always fun. "Alright, then," he smiled. "So, I'm Elijah, but as you can tell, people just call me Eli," he introduced himself to the other girl, since he hadn't seen her before. He got a free kind of vibe from her, like she was kind spirited and a bit whimsical at the same time. At least she was outgoing, because he did not need a jerk to deal with.

"And you are...?"

Angel giggled to herself as she watched the exchange. 'Birds of a feather flock together.' She thought as she looked between the two bird half bloods

"I was exploring," Eli answered. "The only way I really can, which is as a sparrow." He gestured to his legs, patting the right one with his arm for a moment. "Can't really do much with these guys anymore. I think I'm actually lucky though. Normal humans, they don't get to escape it by flying. Kind of depressing. Then again, some people have it even worse than those guys..." Eli's smile faded for a moment before he regained his charm. He bowed as best he could to Angelica.

"I would tip my hat to you, but I don't seem to have one," he joked. "Nice to see you again. And nice to meet you, Ashy."

"Hehe, nice to meet you Eli." I said curtsying. Oh wait, should I have done that? He might get jealous, oh I'm so dumb. I hope it doesn't matter to him.

I blushed. He called me pretty. "Well, me and Angel just met, and we decided to walk in the forest together." I said swinging my arms back and forth. That was something I usually do, and it's a habit.

The wolf half blood chuckled. "I suppose." She nodded smiling as she looked around. "Last time I came here I met an intriguing guy named Benjamin who was a snake half blood and mute. Though he had the ability to speak he never did." She smiled fondly at the memory. "Anyways! Um watcha wanna do guys?" she asked

"We can walk around," Elijah said, shrugging a bit. "Or you can walk around and I can limp around, I don't mind at all." Eli balanced himself out a bit more on his crutches and started making his way to a random path. "Coming or what?"

Uh nah actually why don't you go on ahead without me." She smiled and playfully winked at Ashley. "I gotta find someone. Have fun you too! Nice seeing you again Eli! And ash ok see to round later k?" She bumped shoulders with her before turning to her down from where try came from

Eli rolled his eyes a bit when Ashley offered to help him. "I can handle it. If I can't I will let you know, but I've been doing this for years, so you don't have to worry," he said, sounding a bit annoyed. He was tired of people always giving him special treatment, acting as though he needed it. He wasn't six anymore. He could use these crutches as well as anyone could use their legs. He didn't want pity. He wanted to be treated like he was normal...or at least a normal half-blood.

Without knowing it, Elijah had sped up a bit, as if trying to prove his point. Upon realizing he had, he slowed to a stop. His expression softened a bit.

"Sorry."

"That's not something you have to say," Elijah countered. "To anyone else, you wouldn't have said it. It's already obvious that you would help them." Elijah didn't move, but was staring at the ground.

"You only said it because of my disability. Because I'm different. So you are going to treat me differently, too," Eli sighed a bit, his fingers rubbing the handles of his crutches anxiously. "I never asked for this, I don't want to be treated differently. Everyone looks down on me. I'm tired of it." Usually it wouldn't bother him this much, but part of the reason he wanted to come to Animalia Academy was so he wouldn't be different. He would be around other half-bloods.

I guess even that was too much to ask for.

Eli stared at Ashley for a moment, mouth open slightly, his expression that of utter confusion and a bit of outrage. "Wow," he said after a moment. "I honestly hadn't expected that from you." His expression faded to one of depression and Eli turned around and started heading in the other direction. He wasn't mad as much as...disappointed. Maybe in himself, for thinking that Ashley might care, but he thought it was more that Ashley had disappointed him all on her own. She had barely acknowledged that his "little rant" was something he actually cared about.

It was one thing for people to do what he did like in general. It was another for people to completely brush him off once he had voiced his opinions. And it hadn't really happened before. Not like this, anyway. He paused for a moment, turning his head slightly to look halfway in the direction of Ashley. He tried to give a small smile, but it was easy to see it was fake.

"Look, thanks for the walk, but...I'm not quite sure I-I'm in the mood anymore," he was stuttering slightly because he was lying straight to the face of somebody that he had thought was a friend of his.

Eli stared at the ground, not meeting Ashley's gaze. "...s-sorry..." he murmured, wincing slightly at his own lie. To him it hadn't seemed like she cared enough about how he felt. Maybe he should have expected it. Sometimes people didn't care about his mental state, only how he felt physically. She could be one of those people that did care, just not quite enough. Elijah couldn't tell. And at the moment, wasn't all that worried about finding out.

"See you around?"